Hundreds of hopeful refugees yesterday flooded back to Greece’s overwhelmed Idomeni camp on the border with Macedonia following rumors that the closed frontier would be forced open.
The renewed influx came as Greek authorities were trying to evacuate an estimated 11,500 people who were stranded at the squalid camp after Balkan states slammed shut their borders, cutting off the route to the EU.
By late morning, about 250 people of all ages had gathered by the railway tracks and the border fence, singing and shouting slogans, in a largely peaceful demonstration watched by about 50 Greek policemen in riot gear, a reporter said.
“No violence, we just want to cross,” read one banner, while another said: “Freedom of movement is everybody’s right.”
The wave of new arrivals appeared to be triggered by a rumor that international journalists and Red Cross officials would help them force their way across the fence into Macedonia, a young Syrian refugee told the Athens News Agency.
“We heard today that the border will open and we came here to cross,” he said.
“They told us the Red Cross and 500 journalists from all over the world will be with us,” he said, without specifying the source.
Another young Syrian refugee said his sister, who is living in Germany, read the same claim on the Internet and alerted him.
“People have been here for a long time. I think it’s very dangerous to cross, especially for the children, but what should we do?” 24-year-old Qasim Mosawy from Afghanistan told reporters.
Dozens of other refugees could be seen heading through the fields towards the Idomeni crossing, a reporter said.
“We are trying to step up our information campaign to the refugees. Some people, for reasons we don’t understand, are creating false hope,” said Giorgos Kyritsis, spokesman of the SOMP agency, which is coordinating Athens’ response to the refugee crisis.
Using loudspeakers, Greek officials told those gathering that the crossing would remain closed, repeating the message in both Arabic and Farsi, the Athens News Agency said.
Two weeks ago, hundreds of people were stopped by Macedonian troops after crossing a surging river on the border. Bypassing the regular crossing, they tried to wade through the swift-flowing water, clinging to a rope strung between the banks in order to cross the frontier.
Three Afghan migrants, including a pregnant woman, drowned. The rest were stopped by Macedonian troops and sent back to Greece, along with journalists traveling with them.
“Macedonia will not allow [the] reopening of the Balkan route,” Ivica Bocevski, a representative of Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, said in the wake of the incident.
The bottleneck has left about 50,000 refugees stranded across Greece, which has stepped efforts to evacuate Idomeni.
On Friday and Saturday, 11 buses transported about 600 refugees from Idomeni to other camps in northern Greece.
Those persuaded to board the first buses were mainly parents with children who could no longer tolerate the difficult conditions there.
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